What are you reading the week of July 30, 2022?

I have about 50-60 pages left to go in Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich. It's an extraordinary book that explains so much about Russia. A hundred years may not be enough time to fix everything that is wrong with that country. The social and cultural cost of more than seventy years of Soviet rule has left the country and the people broken in ways that are difficult to comprehend. The horror and sadness of the book is overwhelming.

I'm just about done with Central Asia: A New History..., or at least as much as I'm going to do now. I'm carrying around The Gallery of Miracles and Madness. Sometime during the coming week I'm going to read the The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and will start the new biography Putin.

Enjoying this audio via hoopla ~

The Hotel
by Pamela M. Kelley
(this may be an intro to another Nantucket series)

I am just a bit more than 2/3 of the way through Isaac B. Singer's The Family Moskat, an engrossing novel about the Jewish life in Poland from around 1910 through 1939.

The Upright Piano Player – David Abbott
3.5***

This work of literary fiction is a striking debut. Abbott gives us the story of Henry Cage, a successful businessman who seems to have it all: a fine home, a successful career, and a reputation for being a principled and upstanding man. But his outward success hides personal failure. Just as he has retired, his ex-wife has moved to America, his relationship with his only son is strained to the point of estrangement, and he’s the victim of a random act of violence which escalates into a long-term stalking and harassment.

There are small glimmers of hope for Henry, just as there are set-backs. He learns his ex-wife is quite ill, and he agrees to visit her in Florida, and he begins to repair his relationship with his son and to get to know and love his grandson. But he remains alone and separate, even when with those he holds dear.

One thing that did bother me, however, was how Abbott structured the tale. He begins with a chapter set in 2004. We witness Henry’s reactions to a tragedy. Then he goes back to 1999. This kind of foreshadowing is done frequently, but somehow Abbott’s use of this structure left me with more questions than answers.

Still reading Into the Narrowdark by Tad Williams and Kismet by Amina Akhtar.

Started on and enjoying Pearl In A Cage by Joy Dettman very Australian and very good, plus very long 570 pages!!

I'm reading Granta 115: The F Word (Feminism) edited by John Freeman. My favorites so far are a short story by Louise Erdrich, and an excerpt from A Train in Winter about the women of the French Resistance that were sent to Birkenau during WWII.

I’m concentrating on Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob by Matt Birkbeck, but I’ve also started Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.

About to start reading The Daughter of Heaven by Pierre Loti and am listening to Every Lady a Gardener by Maria Jacson.

I'm having difficulty concentrating, so I've got books all over the place.
On my phone, I'm reading The Rainforest Survivors: Adventures Among Today's Stone Age Jungle Tribes by Paul Raffaele. Very engrossing.
My audiobook at the moment is the deeply fascinating story about the pioneer of gene editing, Jennifer Doudna. It's called The Code Breaker, and is by Walter Isaacson. I have learned so much already.
In the world of paper-bound books, I'm re-reading The Last Lullaby by Carin Gerhardsen in preparation for Black Ice, her latest thriller. It's been a few years, and I'd forgotten a lot so thought it wise to re-read.
I'm also reading, from time to time, How Language Began, by Daniel L. Everett.

Finished just before the clock rolled over to the new month: Kismet by Amina Akhtar. This was a well crafted book and I was surprised by the ending until I stopped to think about it.

Next up is Where the Desert Meets the Sea by Werner Sonne.

The Kill Artist – Daniel Silva
Book on CD narrated by George Guidall
3***

From the book jacket: Former Israeli intelligence operative Gabriel Allon is being called back into action and teamed with an agent as beautiful as she is deadly. Their target: a cunning Palestinian terrorist who played a dark part in Gabriel’s past.

My reactions
This is the first in a series starring Gabriel Allon, whose cover is that of an art restoration specialist. He’s paired with Jacqueline Delacroix, an international fashion model whose been groomed for just such assignments.

The action is fast and furious and sometimes confusing, as is to be expected in an espionage thriller. There are more twists and turns than a casual reader can keep track of. And a basic knowledge of of Israeli / Palestinian relationships and politics is necessary.

I’ll admit to losing interest in some of the more political scenes, but the basic intrigue and heart-stopping thriller scenes were very good. Silva definitely knows how to keep the reader turning pages, with virtually every chapter ending in a cliffhanger.

This is a long-running series, with over twenty books by now. But I doubt I’ll pick up another. Just not my cup of tea.

George Guidall does a reasonable job of performing the audio. He’s very good with different accents and does all the men very well, but his naturally deep and gravelly voice is not well-suited to voicing the women.

Much Ado About You – Samantha Young
Digital audiobook performed by Imani Jade Powers
3***

Evangeline Starling feels her life in Chicago has stagnated. She’s thirty-three and has just been passed over for a promotion... again. She needs to evaluate and regroup, so she plans a holiday in a quaint English fishing village. A lover of Shakespeare, she finds the perfect opportunity when she agrees to run a bookstore – Much Ado About Books – and rent the above-the shop apartment, while the owner takes a month-long vacation.

Evie loves the village, and the lovely shop. She’s a natural at bookselling and the villagers seem friendly and welcoming, especially handsomely rugged sheep farmer Roane Robson, who charms Evie each day with his flirtatious remarks.

This was a fun rom com, which happens to end at Christmas time, but isn’t otherwise very Christmasy. All the tropes are here – she’s sworn off men, he’s devastatingly handsome, his dog is even more attractive, they’re in a quaint village full of colorful characters. Of course there will be bumps in the road to HEA. He’s keeping a secret (with the help of all the other villagers), she’ll be hurt when she discovers it, and break everything off. But, of course, the HEA is powerful and cannot be denied.

This is the first book by Young that I’ve tried; I may have to look into others by her.

Imani Jade Powers does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She has a good pace and her diction was clearly understandable even when I was listening at increased speed.

TAGS: audio, books about books, concierge, dog, England, library, romance

Started this OverDrive audio ~

Smile Beach Murder (Outer Banks Bookshop Mystery, #1)
by Alicia Bessette

Late with the review but squeezed this one into "Christmas in July"


Dashing Through the Snow – Debbie Macomber
Digital audiobook read by Allison Ryan
3***

Ashley Davison makes a last-minute decision to go home to Seattle and see her Mom over Christmas. Dashiell Sutherland has a job interview in Seattle and must arrive by December 23rd. Both are out of luck when trying to book a last-minute flight out of San Francisco; every flight is full and there’s only one rental car left. They reluctantly agree to share the car. They start out in silence but eventually begin to open up, learning they have more in common than they originally thought.

Of course, there are more than a few twists and turns on the road to HEA. An abandoned puppy, a couple of petty thieves, a threatening snowstorm, and a case of mistaken identity (that has the FBI on their trail) cause more than a few delays. But never fear, it’s a holiday rom com and the duo will find true love with one another! So, curl up in a comfy chair, with a warm blanket and the beverage of your choice and enjoy.

Allison Ryan reads the digital audiobook with charm and grace and an infectious enthusiasm that had me smiling throughout.

From the library: Rivals: American Royals III by Katharine McGee
New and #3 in the "American Royals" series.

The Tower of the Swallow
Andrzej Sapkowski
3/5 stars
"Child of Prophecy", Ciri is in trouble. She is being hunted by friends who want to help her and her foes who want her dead. Her goal is to get to the Tower of the Swallows alive. Will she make it? Witcher Series

I finished The Family Moskat, Isaac Bashevis Singer's second novel about the many tensions on the Jewish community in Poland from the beginning of the 20th century through the start of the German invasion in 1939. The novel resonates with me in very many ways. At any rate, my long (even for me!) review is now up on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I'm now reading Boy in Blue, an American Civil War novel published in 1937, written by Royce Brier, a journalist who had recently won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting.

The Mummy Case – Elizabeth Peters
Digital audio narrated by Susan O’Malley
3***

Book three in the popular Amelia Peabody cozy mystery series. Amelia and her handsome husband, Radcliffe Emerson, want permission to dig in a specific area for a long-lost pharaoh’s tomb. But the authorities were not pleased with Emerson’s past behavior and give him a site far from the desired pyramids of Dahshoor. They bring along their incredibly precocious son, Ramses, who wants a dig of his own. Ooh, isn’t he cute!

I’m beginning to really enjoy the complete send-up of so many explorer stories of the past. Amelia does not suffer fools gladly; she’s intelligent and resourceful and has a sharp tongue. Emerson is oh, so “veddy British” in his sensibilities and mannerisms, while Amelia is sometimes far more adaptable to the “less civilized” conditions they find themselves in. They make a good team.

But when it comes to their son … Amelia seems a bit perplexed by Ramses’s talent at getting completely filthy the moment she turns her back – whether he’s covered in jam or the mud of a dig. But Emerson is unexpectedly besotted with the boy. I love how Peters describes their household. For example:
At the age of three Ramses had informed us that he did not need a nanny and would not have one. Emerson agreed with him. I did not agree with him. He needed something – a stout healthy woman who had trained as a prison wardress, perhaps – but it had become more and more difficult to find nannies for Ramses. Presumably the word had spread. .

Susan O’Malley does a fine job narrating the audiobooks. She IS Amelia. I can’t imagine anyone else doing a better job.

The new thread is up over here.